Let’s Make a Deal

First off, too many Zombie movies have starts in hospitals. So I’ve had these horrible nightmares. So last night’s nightmare – where I’ve got Rowan’s oxygen tank in one arm and him screaming in the other and I’m dodging Zombie’s in the sky bridge to try to get to my car – my phone woke me out of.

“This is Shannon with CT surgery” is a HORRIBLE thing to wake up to.  Luckily, Rowan was “fine” but his Broviac (IV that goes from his leg into his heart that he’s had for 3 months) broke. It broke on the external part, so they had clamped it and were going to take him to the OR later to have Dr. Boston replace it. Dr. Boston is the “new” CT surgeon at SLCH.  I gave phone consent in case I didn’t get to the hospital before he left for them to do this procedure and a blood consent as well in case he bled during the procedure and needed to be transfused.

After that, I got out of bed to shower. No hot water.

For those of you keeping track:

Zombie nightmare

Rowan going to OR

Maybe needing a transfusion

No hot water = no shower

Ok, so then I put on dirty clothes because I haven’t been able to use the washer/dryers at haven house because others have been using them. Run through the rain to the car (wet, dirty clothes. check.) And start the 20 minute drive to the hospital.

Cue phone.

“Hi this is Urology” Really? So Rowan’s foley catheter was put in and moved causing some trauma to his urethra. He had some bleeding but it had slowed down and almost stopped.  His foley was removed yesterday, thinking he no longer needed it.  Apparently, the bleeding got worse this morning. So while in the OR they are going to shove a camera up, look around, and maybe put a foley back in.

Zombies. Broken Broviac. Maybe blood. No hot water. Dirty, wet clothes. Bleeding Penis.

Great.

So 2.5 hours later, I arrived at the hospital. Traffic and car wrecks jammed up 64 and I didn’t have  GPS to figure out another way to the hospital.  So I get to the hospital and run upstairs to see Rowan. 

Not good.  He is on isolation. He’s breathing hard. His oxygen has been cranked up.  He’s grunting a lot. He looks like he is in pain. The nurses he’s had that morning start talking to me about the bleeding that happened that morning, which was WAY worse than I’d thought from the previous discussion. Descriptions of filled bloody diapers and trying to put pressure to stop it and Rowan being unhappy make me think this is NOT just some Foley trauma.  I’m terrified that the blood in the urine is likely coming from a different source because Rowan doesn’t usually make very much urine without meds, and he hadn’t had any…so how could he fill a diaper? Oh, and they think he has an infection too.

Side note: Finally officially met Dr. Boston. He started talking to me about risks of Broviac replacement…but I didn’t really pay any attention because I was SHOCKED when an Australian accent came out of his mouth and spent most of the time trying to figure out where he was from. So that was a kind of awesome moment.

Okay, back to the story….

So Rowan is going to go to the OR, may need blood, will probably need to be intubated because of the breathing trouble and sedation needed to do the procedure.

So I sat down with Rowan. And we had a talk.

“Rowan, today sucks for me.  It can suck a ton for me, as long as you turn this around for you. Today can be the worst day of my life if you can fix it for you.”

So they came and got him and took him away…

And my phone went off.

My boss texted me to let me know that they would be posting open positions next week and she needed to know soon what my decision was about coming back to work.

I’ve known for a while that I can’t go back next year.  Rowan needs me to take care of him. He can’t go to daycare or even grandmacare. And if Rowan isn’t around to need care, I don’t think I can go back to work next year. I don’t think I can be in the same building as all my students who know what happened. I need to wait until they graduate the building.

So I texted my decision. Not next year. Hopefully the year after that though, Rowan will be well enough for at least Grandmacare.

So….for those of you counting

Zombies. Broken Broviac. Maybe Blood. No hot water. Wet, dirty clothing. Bleeding Penis. 2.5 Hours of Traffic. Up oxygen. Up pain. Slasher movie amount of blood from bleeding penis. Infection. Unhappy baby. Probably intubation. And I just quit my dream job.

…so I texted my friend Becky, Oakes’ mom.  Oakes is doing horrible too.  Super horrible.

Officially, worst day ever. I mean come on. It started with Zombies.  What did I expect?

I’ll tell you what I did not expect.

Rowan didn’t need to be intubated.  There were no problems with his Broviac replacement. Infact, they put in a Broviac with two places to draw/put medicine into…so all of his other lines can come out now. They did put a catheter in, but it can come out in two days and he should be good to go. Also, the Foley meant that he wasn’t passing urine by a raw area so he wasn’t in pain like he had been. He was comfortable, breathing easier, and even played with me a little bit today.

Then, his swabs for infection all came back negative. He’s good to go. So they started feeding him and he should be a happy camper soon.

Today started with me running through the hospital fighting off zombies trying to save my son. It’s ending with him feeling MUCH better, and a hot bath at Haven House. AND my husband is coming to St. Louis this weekend.

Maybe we both turned it around.